When Barack Obama was elected to the presidency in 2008, many assumed he had a mandate to pursue various alternative energy solutions against which previous administrations had hedged. Four years and a re-election later, the Obama administration's aims remain very much the same, and its clean energy mandate is every bit as ambitious.

The president seems poised to stay the course he set during his 2011 State of the Union Address, during which he projected that 80% of America's electricity will come from clean energy sources by 2035.

Ambitious, certainly, but not out of reach. The Obama administration has devoted considerable resources to a range of clean-energy solutions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 alone devoted some $80 billion to the funding of clean and renewable energy resources, including substantial tax incentives for both solar and wind energy.

Ongoing investments include the creation of ARPA-E, a research agency tasked with promoting cutting-edge energy technologies. With an initial endowment of some $400 million, the agency offers annual awards to scientists and researchers whose work represents the high-risk, high-reward opportunities of green energy. Similarly, President Obama's energy policy includes a $3.4 million investment in the SmartGrid program, designed to reduce domestic electricity use by 4% by 2030.

Another key element to be aware of in 2013 and beyond is the Obama administration's attitude toward traditional energy sources like petroleum and coal. While domestic oil production is surging and is projected to hit 11.1 million barrels a day by 2020, key initiatives like the Keystone Pipeline — a massive pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canadian oil sands to refineries in Texas — are facing increased opposition from Obama's own party owing to the potential for pollution. The president is likely to make a decision on Keystone early in 2013, and many industry analysts expect this decision to serve as a bellwether for the administration's attitude toward traditional energy sources for the next four years.

As the president moves into his second term, industry analysts expect the administration to aggressively pursue a broad clean energy agenda. So what does this likely mean for business owners and investors?

Those looking to the green energy industry to create scores of jobs will likely have to keep waiting. Job growth in this sector has been sluggish. Many technologies are not yet ready for public deployment, so job creation has been relegated to relatively few high-skill positions. The oil and gas industry is likely to get little goodwill from the Obama administration, so government-backed growth in that sector is probably not in the cards.

Overall, the safest bet here is to plan on investing in green energy, but not just yet. Funding for major green initiatives will likely materialize, and those who find themselves positioned to take advantage of the next round of green funding are sure to find an ally in the Obama administration.